4/30/2013

from VentureBeatby John KoetsierYou can’t access Facebook in China. Twitter is unheard of. And Google … well, Google has left China, and China isn’t exactly writing a Taylor Swift ex-boyfriend song about the world’s largest search engine.
So social media and search engine optimization in China is a whole different ballgame. But an important one to play for any American company that wants a presence in the middle kingdom, according to Bin Lee and Iris Huang of Glogou.
“Asians are all social media users,” says Lee. “Social media users in China are way more active than Facebookers and Twitter users — social media is their key outlet.”
Glogou has been helping U.S companies sell into China — a “reverse Alibaba,” the company calls itself — for about five years. In a natural progression, last year the company started to explore helping Western corporations build their online profiles in China in addition selling their products.
Which, of course, exactly mirrors what companies have been doing in the Americas and Europe for the past five years. But there are some differences.
And those differences between China and the western world are the key reasons for Glogou’s existence. The reasons go beyond social media and into reasons such as what happened to Apple over the past few months — negative press in government-owned media outlets and coordinated astroturf social media attacks. And of course, reasons such as those behind Google’s exit from the Chinese market. Basically, if the Chinese government doesn’t approve of what you’re doing, you’re not going to be successful in China.
Early detection and response — Apple CEO Tim Cook eventually apologized, probably settling the issues — is critical.
But not all challenges with doing business in China can be chalked up to political problems. In the Chinese government’s efforts to accomplish its goals — whatever they are — there’s a lot of collateral damage.

Source: John Koetsier

China’s Baidu search engine is very Google, circa 2005

“Many US sites are not accessible from China,” says Huang. “It’s amazing how many … often that’s not because of political reasons, often simply due to technical reasons.”
So Glogou provides site monitoring services based in China, confirming that your site is accessible from mainland China, and building you a small Chinese site if it is not. And, the company provides social media monitoring: checking Weibo for mentions of your company and brand, and monitoring sentiment. That’s a big deal, because Weibo has more users than Twitter and almost as many users as Facebook.
That is due to the fact that social media is Chinese citizens’ key political outlet, Lee says. While the government does censor certain keywords, posts, and sometimes entire topics — such as the pigs floating in the river in Shanghai, which had two million search results before disappearing entirely — the government has to grant a certain level of freedom, he told me. Which makes social media a key outlet for political as well as personal sentiment.
“The official newspapers never criticize the government, so people need to release some negative feelings” Lee says. “They criticize the government via social media.”
But it’s not just about social media — search engine optimization is also key, and SEO is an entirely different matter in China than in the U.S.
“We also help U.S. businesses to make sure they are included on Baidu,” Huang told me. “Because if you’re not on Baidu, you’re basically invisible in China.”
In addition to SEO services, the company has built an English interface for Baidu’s ad platform, which is entirely in Chinese. Baidu has advertising products roughly analogous to Google’s AdWords and AdSense products, which until now have been almost entirely off-limits to English-speaking users.
China’s an important and growing market for U.S. businesses, a fact that social media management big boy HootSuite recently acknowledged by adding Weibo support to its tools.
Which means knowing what Chinese think of you and your product is probably a good thing, as you’re trying to sell into their country.photo credit: jonrussell via photopincc

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Reg Nordman is the Managing Partner for Rocket Builders, a sales and marketing consultancy for high growth companies. He works with large and small companies such as , Asentus, Maximizer, Sophos, Microsoft Canada, and Research in Motion. Previously he has worked in direct and channel sales for major firms such as Unisys and Commodore.

Over the past 30 years this experience has spanned mining engineering at Anaconda Mines, teaching elementary and high school, working for the BC Provincial Government, lecturing on computing for the University of Victoria and University of British Columbia, sales for Unisys, Commodore, and Simply Computing/Strider Computer Centres, TNL Group, Westpro Construction, and Merit Consultants International. For his clients, Reg assists them in breaking through various sales and marketing challenges to grow the business. Using RocketBuilders Precision Sales and Marketing process he helps CEOS understand the dirty little secret about Sales and Marketing. What is that secret ? It has two parts. One, 95% of the money spent today by Sales and Marketing departments is “wasted” . Two, 100% close rations can be achieved.Â Reg is focused on getting clients “more effective selling time”.Reg has been publishing executive book reviews for his clients since 2002, and a blog since 2004. He has a BASc. (Mining) from the University of British Columbia, an M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) from the University of Victoria and a Diploma in Management Skills in Applied Technology from Simon Fraser University. He is a member of the UBC Keevil School of Mines Industry Advisory Committee and has served on numerous community volunteer groups.